Apollo Career Center CET instructor Chris Washam, left, works with his students on creating a trench where a drainage pipe will be laid near the baseball diamond at Ohio State Lima.
LIMA — The Ohio State University at Lima is a center for education and professional development, even if the education and development do not come from OSU-Lima itself.
High school construction equipment technology (CET) students from Apollo Career Center have been on site addressing a drainage issue near the sports fields on campus, located near Mumaugh Road. The university had been dealing with issues of standing water in some of the grassy areas near the baseball diamond, and the hope was that the CET students could work out a system that would allow the water to drain off into storm sewer drains or other waterways.
“There was just too much water in this area and it was flooding,” Apollo senior James Schiffhauer said. “So we dug a 300-foot trench with a six-inch [diameter] main, and then we did a series of four-inch stringers roughly 30 feet apart to help get all the water down to one spot.”
Apollo CET instructor Chris Washam was gratified to see his students getting experience in the field, knowing that all of the experience gained here will increase the students’ skill set, as well as their confidence, as they prepare to enter the workforce.
“Those kids are going to go into a new job environment making $25 an hour and their confidence has been boosted and their resume has been boosted,” he said. “I hear feedback from employers, and that feedback is, ‘Wow, these kids know so much.’”
OSU-Lima communications specialist Pamela Joseph was also happy to see the Apollo students gain knowledge, experience and confidence as they worked on her campus.
“Ohio State Lima students use our campus as a learning laboratory every day and we are happy that students from Apollo are also able to use our space to develop the skills and experiences they need as they move through their educational journeys,” she said. “The work they are doing will improve both our physical space and their skill sets.”
Students have already been working on the project for some time, and while this project will resume in the fall, the hope is to have much of the drainage in place before classes break for the summer later this month.
“Weather permits work,” Schiffhauer said. “Whenever we’ve got clear days, we’re out here.”
Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0391 or on Twitter @cmkelly419.
